


At The Top Of The World

by Clarybell90



Category: Original Work
Genre: Cold, Devotion, Fear, Gods, M/M, Magic, Pining, Props to you if you know the real life story that inspired this, Repressed Feelings, Sacrilege, challenging the gods, im so sorry, this is just a bad time, this is your only warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:08:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27256222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clarybell90/pseuds/Clarybell90
Summary: "Lay off, Noel," Vini says, only half joking, "You know how these isolated villages are. Can't use sciences so they go to religion instead."Not that Vini could use science either, but he didn't need to with Noel around.
Relationships: Original Male Character/Original Male Character
Kudos: 4





	At The Top Of The World

"The Gods will strike you down. They will flay the skin from your bones and leave your body as a reminder to all others," The woman spits, bristling like a cat. Noel does nothing at the fire in her tone, only tilting back on his heels, deft hands tucked into his pockets. It's a look that Vini gets to see often, but he still runs his gaze all the way down Noel's figure. He's beautiful. A viper wrapped in a woolen coat, silvery blonde hair tucked up into his hat, leaving those pale eyes free to pierce the tribeswoman in front of them.

"That's not what I asked and you know it," Noel says, tone a lilting sort of mockery that never fails to send shivers down Vini's spine, "Now give me the answer."

" _Yes_ ," She hisses.

"And have any of them ever returned?"

"No. And the same will happen to you."

Noel smiles, nothing but teeth, "You'll see."

Then his gloved hand hooks around Vini's elbow, tugging him along, as they leave the tent. The tribespeople look at them as they go, faces between contempt and pity. Vini catches sight of a woman covering her children's eyes as they pass, a prayer passing from her chapped lips. Have mercy on the Faithless. Let their reckoning be kind.

Vini himself was never a religious man, to be honest. His Ma had tried hard when he was young, but like everyone else who tried to teach him something, nothing much stuck. Nothing bad ever happened to him, no so called Gods came to throw him back to Earth when he went too far, but nor had anything good happened because of them either. Vini never quite thought a person needed a God, not really.

Noel, though. Noel bows up when blessed, nearly hisses like some demon when someone tries to convert him. A fire burns in him, all consuming, and there's no place in there for a God to store them self. No room for anything other than the all encompassing being that already is Noel. His passion, his thoughts, his will. Enough was already stuffed in there before the Gods even got a chance.

Honestly, Vini thinks that if there ever was a God, Noel would probably be it.

"Don't listen to them, Vin. We're gonna do this, and then what will they do? What will they think when we prove that men are just as good as Gods?" Noel murmurs to him, still tugging Vini along as they head back to their camp. His voice sounds gravely when he lowers it like that, and it leaves.... Something pooling in his stomach.

"Lay off, Noel," Vini says, only half joking, "You know how these isolated villages are. Can't use sciences so they go to religion instead."

Not that Vini could use science either, but he didn't need to with Noel around. It's the reason he's here today, brushing shoulders with Noel as the trail narrows, a hand still curled into the crook of his elbow. Despite the layers of warm fabric between them, Vini tries to imagine he can feel the heat from it on his skin.

Noel has a look on his face, lips halfway pursed, jaw working. Vini can see his teeth worrying at the inside of his mouth. Its the closest Noel ever looks to something concerned, and the last time Vini saw it was after his tussle with Leroy Brown in a bar. Vini had needed twelve stitches, and the gash the man had left on his head turned into a scar he still bears, just an inch above his left brow.

Vini elbows his side slightly, barely more than a nudge, but it's enough to get Noel out of his head and looking at him.

"What's wormed its way into your mind? Don't tell me you're backing out now."

Shoving back slightly with his own hand, Noel gives a quick bark of a laugh, "You wish."

"What is it then? Missing a girl back home?" Vini asks, and he says it like its a casual thing. Like the icy air around them doesn't try and force its way into his soul when he brings up the idea of Noel bringing home some pretty dane. Sometimes he succeeds in keeping that cold from crystallizing inside himself, even. Stops it from slowly cutting him apart from the center.

This isn't one of those times, but he still forces himself to give a shit eating grin when those beautiful eyes find his face. But Noel doesn't send one back, doesn't give in to the banter. Instead his face hardens a bit, and Vini can see the wheels in his head turning.

"You know, you don't have to follow me up, Vin. You could stay at the base camp and wait for me to return. Just cause I want to tempt fate doesn't mean you should put your life on the line for me."

Vini sucks in a breath, turning to face Noel with his eyebrows shoved as high as they can go. It's normally answer enough for Noel, but this time the other man sets his jaw, waiting on a firm answer.

So Vini gives him one. He pulls his arm away from Noel's hand, reels it back, and slugs him right in the shoulder. It's barely a love tap, but Noel is lean, built for endurance and not brute force like Vini is. It sends him stumbling back into the rock face along the trail.

"Wherever you go, I follow, you hear me!"

Vini isn't even sure when he decided to yell, just hears his voice echoing along the ravine, bouncing his words back half a dozen times more. Noel gives him this startled look, eyes wide open, lips parted slightly in shock. His hand grabs at the spot where Vini punched him, and for the barest of moments they just stare at each other. When still, open like this, Noel looks almost vulnerable.

Gods, Vini wants to kiss him.

Spinning on his heel, Vini forces himself to look away from that perfect face. To head back down the trail, putting extra force into his steps to make it seem like he's stomping. A false bravado he needs to put up to keep from crossing that line that he'll never come back from.

"Come on. You need to drink some more of the coffee we got at camp, cause ya obviously aren't thinking straight."

* * *

Mount Vennach is the highest peak in the world. It's said to be the place where the Gods first walked down onto Earth. Where rock meets the heavens and all souls will one day ascend to reach a higher place of being. People take pilgrimages here, down to the base. Hoping for a glimpse of the Gods among the clouds.

Noel and Vini didn't stop at the base. They didn't stop at the first ridge, at the second, or at the third. They pressed on, eyes facing down at their feet, but plans only going up. They're both layered in clothing, bundled against the cold, and even then it still buffets at them. The wind screams past them, telling them to go back, to give up, that they won't make it. Noel doesn't seem to hear it, and if Noel won't back off, neither will Vini.

They reach the first body just as the sun goes down the first day. It's a woman, half buried among the loose rock, both her legs broken at unnatural angles. There is no blood, her limbs were already froze stiff before she fell down the cliff face. Her face is pointed skyward, but the ice crystals cloud her eyes, making it impossible to see where she was looking when she died.

Noel says nothing as they make camp there, both of them huddling carefully into the small tent. They sleep with their clothes on, one sleeping bag layered underneath them and the other on top, hoping to trap what little warmth they can. Vini wakes up with ice crusting his eyes shut, tears having run down his face in the night. He dreamed of cold, and death, and of sitting there in the same place he died for years and years. No mourners coming, nothing but the howling wind for company.

But then he looks down and finds Noel burrowed up against his side, face pressed into the hollow of his shoulder. His hat slipped off sometime in the night and now his hair falls over his cheeks in small silvery wisps. It takes Vini's breath away, and he curses the rising sun. He'll have to wake Noel up soon so they could keep moving. If it were up to Vini, though, they would never move. He would just watch Noel's face, see his breath puff out in front of him forever. Gorgeous.

That's what keeps Vini going. Seeing Noel to the top, making his dream a reality. Letting Noel prove to the world that everyone was more than what some God told them to be. It's what propels him past the second, third, fourth, nearly a full two dozen bodies they find. Each of them tell a story, each of them look up, each of them no longer show where they were looking.

The peak is in sight when the worst happens. Vini had been taking the lead for a few days now, cause if any precarious rocks held his weight, they'd definitely hold Noel's. Except when it comes to luck, nothing ever works like that.

Vini had barely managed to drive in another anchor, to hook himself to the wall, when he hears the rocks give way. In an instant his feet are swept out from under him as the momentum tries to drag him down with Noel, the rope tying them both together at the waist suddenly pulling taunt against his hips. Instinct has Vini grabbing onto a boulder before he finds himself free hanging with only shale and a rope to grip onto.

Below him, he hears Noel cry out in pain as he hits the wall, rope swinging as Vini stops their fall. A sickening crack echoes into the empty air between them. If Vini's veins weren't already ice, they were now.

"Noel! You alright down there?" He yells, because he can't look down yet, not without risking losing his grip. For a painfully long minute there's nothing, but then Vini hears Noel suck in a deep breath.

"Yeah. Get us back up."

His voice is reassuringly calm enough that Vini can force the shaking out of his limbs long enough to force himself to slowly haul himself over the edge. Gripping the rope, Vini digs his knees in behind the boulder and pulls, not daring to look down and see what kind of shape Noel is in. Instead he waits with baited breath as every inch crests the rock, until a gloved hand appears. Surging forward, Vini grabs that hand, reaches down to grab the shoulder attached to it, and hauls the other man up with all his might.

He pulls Noel into his lap, wedging himself into a solid spot between the boulder and the hard wall of the cliff. Panting in the thin air, Vini presses Noel's face into his shoulder. Feels the weight of the other in his arms.

Noel's right leg is broken, twisted at an unnatural angle with the bone sticking out. Blood sluggishly oozes out, but freezes after a few bare moments in the air. Vini feels like he might be sick.

"It's.... It's okay Noel. I'll just carry you the rest of the way. Put ya up on my back and bring us both to the top."

"We won't make it to the top."

Vini's heart jolts, "Then I'll bring ya back down. First ones to come off this damn mountain is still an accomplishment. You can still prove everyone wrong. Can still show them that the Gods don't exist."

He's rambling. He doesn't even realize it until Noel's gloved hand covers his mouth. Stilling, Vini shuts up. They both just breath for a moment, before Noel leans carefully back, just enough to see Vini's face, barely seeming to notice his own broken leg.

"You shouldn't have come with me," He says, the wind nearly carrying it away. Vini stares for a long second before moving Noel's hand to his cheek, holding it there, firm.

"You'd be dead if I hadn't have come."

"Yes, but you wouldn't die here with me. I'm not going to make it back down, Vin. Not on my own, and I'm too heavy for you to make it all the way by yourself."

"I can. I'll get you back to safety I-"

"Vin." Noel says, then cuts him off with a kiss. His lips are freezing, and Vini can barely feel them with how numb his own are, but he grabs on to the back of Noel's head and holds on like a drowning man to a piece of driftwood. Their lips move against one another for a second, a minute, and hour, an eternity, it seems, before Noel pulls away.

"Leave me, get yourself back to safety, you idiot of a man."

There is heat in that command, the flame that normally fills Noel fueling it. But now it's little more than embers echoing in Noel's pale eyes, the dark circles around them making them stick out even more. Ice forms on his eyelashes, and his lips are turning blue. Soon that flame will snuff out completely.

Vini tilts Noel's head down, pressing their foreheads together, noses brushing. Tangled together like this, it's more intimate than even the kissing, "You already know the answer to that."

Noel lets out a puff of breath, his last hope of convincing Vini escaping with it, and closes his eyes. Vini takes that it for a while, sees the perfection of this man one final time, before mimicking him. Lets the darkness overcome him, listening to the other's breaths and hoping they do not stop before his own.

Neither of them die like the others, looking to some God to try and save them. Their faces aren't twisted in pain or in fear. For one has forsaken Gods, called upon them only to tell them that they are weak and unworthy. Daring him to strike him down, and not even believing it in his last moments, as he wasn't struck down by anything other than his own folly.

And the other, well. He doesn't need the Gods because he'd already found his. A fire wrapped in the body of a man, ready to burn down everything around it, and all he had done was warm himself with the flames.

They both die together, entangled together like the lovers the never truly got to be in life, but forever will be in death.


End file.
